Walt at Random

Violating my own guideline about not feeling the need to explain posting absences…

I’ve been out of town for the last two weeks (May 24-June 8, to be specific), cruising from Vancouver to Seward and back on the MS Zaandam, one of those “dam ships.” I’ll probably post about it later, maybe, if other pre-ALA deadlines don’t preclude it; for now, let’s just say that Holland America largely redeemed itself in our eyes. (This is a good thing.)

Other pre-ALA deadlines? A brief talk at an ALA program (a rare occasion for me, and it’s not a LITA program); that deserves a post and I need to write some notes for the talk. Also a column–technically not due until July 11, but that doesn’t leave much time post-ALA. And C&I (for which I already have 2/3 of a short issue), unless I postpone the July issue…

Anyway, I’m back…but I’m not quite. Just marking all outstanding blog posts on the absurd number of blogs I follow would be self-destructive, but plowing through 1,800+ posts wasn’t easy, even if I only really needed to read about 10% of them–and save maybe 60 for later consideration and use. Or, for three specific and related posts, a possible response…

One of those posts was from a first-rate liblogger who noted that they’re sort of blogged out at the moment. I commented that they weren’t alone. Maybe it’s early summer (yesterday was uncommonly warm for Mountain View, and of course we don’t have A/C here in paradise). Maybe it’s post-vacation letdown. I don’t think I’ve done any particularly topical posts, other than book-related posts, for a while now. That should change. Some day soon…

Enough. Time to get back on the treadmill (literally, followed by figuratively).

OK, so I’ve been remarketing the three primary Cites & Insights Books books.

Some of you might also find one or both of the big paperback C& I annuals worth buying, but you can look into those on your own. They’re bargains at $29.50, to be sure, and I do provide added value in each case–both glorious full-color covers and something that you can’t get otherwise in each volume.

Cites & Insights Books continues to be an experiment. I’m pondering where (if anywhere) to take that experiment next. (If an experiment can’t fail, it’s not really an experiment…)

At the moment, given essentially total silence, I’m somewhat inclined to believe there’s a reluctance to deal with the facts of most library blogs–that people would rather talk theory and mention two or three hand-picked examples. I discussed an alternate theory here–but there are other books about library blogs and blogging, so that one’s a little hard to accept. It’s also quite possible that I’ve done a lousy job describing the books or that I did a lousy job of doing them. I know I’ve done a lousy job of marketing them…

So here’s the thing.

• I’m renewing the call for answers to the question posed here, and I won’t make any decisions until after ALA.
• Alternatively, I wonder whether it would make sense to turn the two library blogging books into a single follow-on book that looks at how blogs changed from March-May 2007 to March-May 2008–that is, a similar longitudinal book but focusing on library blogs rather than liblogs.
• Or I could say the hell with it and abandon the experiment for now…

Thoughts?

Oh: If there are readers who believe I’ve just been obsessing about book sales and futures for the last two weeks, be reassured: That’s not the case. I’m sure some of you (and a few LSW folks) will have figured out the reality:

My wife and I were in Alaska, along with a dear friend who’s also a librarian, during the last two weeks (we should get back shortly after this post appears). I wasn’t fretting about book sales. I also wasn’t blogging, although I was checking email (mostly work email) periodically–that is, I was if the ship’s internet cafe wasn’t too crowded.

These four posts used WordPress’ postdating capability so they’d appear during my absence.

Some semblance of normal posting–whatever that means for this blog–will resume the week of June 9, once I plow through email and paper mail and blog posts and work issues…

Still available: Academic Library Blogs: 231 Examples.

• Price: $29.50 (or $20 for PDF download, only from Lulu)
• Includes 231 English-language academic library blogs from 156 institutions.
• Coverage rules same as for Public Library Blogs.
• Similar metrics and inclusions–but this book also makes a few comparisons between academic and public library blogs. (I do not attempt to characterize academic institutions by size of user population or any other characterization.)
• x+279 pages, 6×9, 60lb. cream paper.
• Cover photo taken at Ephesus
• If you need an ISBN or prefer Amazon, the Amazon/CreateSpace version is the same price and carries ISBN 978-1434832894. (Unlike earlier Amazon/CreateSpace versions, this one is also 60lb. cream book stock.)

This is, as far as I know, the broadest and only study of its kind–showing how academic libraries actually use blogs in scores of cases, not just theory and a few hand-picked examples.

For a library attached to a library school, I think it should be a no-brainer: A unique study that provides a broad basis for understanding actual use of blogs by academic libraries.

For 231 blogs in 156 institutions of higher education, you can see metrics including number of posts, length of posts, number of comments (if any) and use of illustrations. Additionally, I attempt to show how each blog links (or doesn’t) to its library’s home page (and vice-versa), special characteristics, and a sample post.

If you’re in an academic library that’s blogging or considering blogging, this book should help guide you to blogs you might want to use for inspiration–and some of the numbers may give you a bracing sense of reality as you set expectations.

If you’re speaking or writing about library blogging, this book will provide facts on actual blogging across a broad range of examples.

Possible scarcity or replacement:

This book came out January 15, 2008. As of mid-May, it’s sold 28 copies.

Depending on future sales of this book and Public Library Blogs and other factors (including feedback), I may or may not replace both books with a new library blogging book that looks at changes in blogs between March-May 2007 and March-May 2008.

Otherwise, this book will stay on sale for at least a year–but after that, it may be taken out of print if sales fall below an average of one copy a week. (At the very least, the Amazon version might disappear.)